Paige Matthews
Paige Matthews, formerly known as Josephine "Jo" Bennett, is a witch-whitelighter hybrid and one of the four Charmed Ones. Born to Samuel Wilder and Patricia Halliwell, the two feared the Elders would punish them for breaking the rules and having a baby, so they put their newborn daughter up for adoption. A nun named Sister Agnes gave the baby to Mark and Helen Matthews, who named her "Paige", and she grew up with them''Charmed again, Part 1.. Initially a rebellious teenager, she straightened herself out after her adoptive parents were killed in a car crashA Paige From the Past.. Becoming the assistant of Bob Cowan at Prue, Piper and Phoebe. She began to spend time at Piper's club, P3, where she felt a sense of belonging, and it was after an attack by Shax that she learned the Halliwells were her half-sisters, and that they were witches. After vanquishing Shax and learning of her power of telekinetic-orbing, Paige embraced her destiny as a Charmed One. Initially anxious about being compared to Prue, Paige tried to live up to her late half-sister, and was angry when she was unable to accomplish feats that Prue did. When finally reaching Prue's level, she began to embrace her inner-whitelighter, helping many charges, including her biological father, Samuel WilderSam, I Am.. After about five years of vanquishing demons, warlocks and other evils, Paige married a parole officer named Henry Mitchell at the Halliwell Manor. The two later had twin daughters, and a son named Henry Jr. about a year afterward. Despite having settled down with a family, Henry found time to look after the children so that Paige could act as whitelighter to other witches and future whitelighters. She also went to Magic School at least once to give a lecture on the Book of Shadows, which resulted in a bored student named Jessalyn accidentally transforming into a gigantic monsterCharmed Lives.. Biography Pre-Birth The Warren witch Patty Halliwell lived at 1329 Prescott Street with her husband, Victor Bennett, and three daughters, Prudence, Piper and Phoebe. However, she and her mother, Penny, argued a lot with Victor how to raise the girls, and Patty started to spend more time with her whitelighter, Samuel Wilder. They began having an affair and, by late October or early November, she was pregnant with Sam's child. She kept the fact secret from everyone but Sam and her mother, and divorced Victor shortly after Christmas that year. Adoption and Childhood Patty gave birth to Paige on August 2, 1977, and although she and Sam wanted to keep the baby. Penny told them that they had to give her up in fear of repercussions by the Elders. Therefore, to protect her youngest daughter from both sides of magic, she gave her up anonymously to Sister Agnes at a local church- with the single request that her daughter's name begin with a "P". Agnes found Paige a good home with Mark and Helen Matthews, who adopted her and honored Patty's request by naming her "Paige Matthews". Paige befriended a boy called Glen Belland, who remained her friend for many years, though they had an "on-and-off" romantic relationship too. Teenage Years and Death of Adoptive Parents In her teenage years, Paige attended Robinson Royce High School under Principal O. Harris, and was best friends with Michelle Miglis. Her first love was a boy named Vincent, but their relationship didn't work out. She also went out with a boy called Philip Lewicky who gave her a bracelet some time between 1990 and 1994; Glen was presumably just a friend at this point. She seemed to have a crush on a boy named Bobby Maynard as well. In her teens, Paige was rebellious; staying out all night, partying with friends, skipping classes and talking back to her parents. While Mark and Helen insisted on her having a good education, Paige insisted she was not going to go to college, which upset them. It was one day before school that Paige was waiting for her ride and smoking at her window that her body was possessed by herself from the future. Paige, who had gone back in time with Leo Wyatt to find out why her parents died. She went downstairs to find her parents discussing her and her future. Promising she would change, she went to school but tried to leave a History class with Mr. Martin, only to be stopped by a truancy officer. Being suspended from school by Principal Harris, Paige doubly promised she would straighten herself out and after an emotional talk, they prepared to go for "family night". However, she decided to change the time-line and asked her parents if they could eat at home rather than the restaurant, she hoped this would prevent the car accident to happen again. The car crashed happened again however. Paige accidentally orbinged out of the car to safety, while Mark and Helen died in the car wreck. Prue's funeral and meeting with Sisters The Reconstituted Charmed Ones After the funeral, Paige and her boyfriend Shane went to P3 to dance, where Paige explained her family background to Shane. She then took him to the rooftop to make out, where they were attacked by Shax. Phoebe and Cole Turner observed the fight and saw that Paige unknowingly orbed out to avoid an attack by Shax. Sadly, Shane was not as lucky and was injured. Phoebe and Cole attacked Shax, giving Paige time to escape. Piper and Phoebe were initially puzzled as to why Shax would attack Paige, or why she could orb. Leo checked with the Elders, who knew nothing about her. Cole did some digging of his own, and reported that the Source not only believed Paige was a witch, but was related to Prue, Piper and Phoebe as well—thus possibly making her a Charmed One. Wanting to ensure that the Power of Three was indeed destroyed, the Source sent Shax after Paige. Wanting some answers, Piper and Phoebe summoned Grams, who initially said she couldn't tell them anything. Patty then appeared and revealed that she'd sworn her mother to secrecy. They then confirmed that Paige was indeed Piper and Phoebe's half-sister, and suggested that the Power of Three might be reborn if they could find her. After checking on her boyfriend at the hospital and speaking to police, Paige went to the Halliwell Manor. She was together with her sisters and the Book of Shadows for the first time, thus reconstituting the Charmed Ones. This reunion was interrupted by Shax, but Piper and Phoebe were able to get Paige to assist them in saying the spell which would vanquish him. Freaked out by what she saw, Paige ran off. The Source wasn't at all happy to find out that Paige had reunited with her sisters. However, his Oracle told him that every newly-minted witch has 48 hours to decide whether to use her powers for good or evil—the so-called "window of opportunity." If the Source could turn Paige evil within that time, the Power of Three would be permanently destroyed. The Source possessed Shane in hopes of swaying her away from her sisters. Paige then went to meet the nun who she was given to as a baby, who told her "angels"--who turned out to be Patty and Sam—left her at the church. At the church, Paige was approached by Piper and Phoebe, who told her that, in all likelihood, she was a telekinetic like Prue. Skeptically, Paige tried to move a candle by waving her hand at it and then squinting her eyes, and failed. Paige grumpily said she must not really be a witch if she couldn't even move a candle. Unknowingly, she gestured at it again, and the candle disappeared from its stand in a swirl of blue lights and reappeared in her hand. Piper and Phoebe realized that Paige's telekinesis worked differently because she was half-whitelighter; she moved objects by calling for them verbally. She was then approached by a Source-possessed Shane, claiming someone was hunting him. She left with him, fleeing the sisters. The Source then took Paige back to her place where he tempted her to use her powers to kill a man suspected of abusing his son, knowing that child abuse was one of Paige's pet peeves. Paige tried to kill the man by calling out his heart, but Phoebe and Piper were able to stop her and Leo orbed her to the Halliwell home. It was discovered that the man was innocent and it was his wife who was abusing the child; in the Charmed universe, killing an innocent is usually enough to turn someone evil. The Source then dealt a mortal blow to Cole, leaving him to die slowly.2 Back at the manor Paige threw a fit despite Leo's attempts to calm her down and persuade her that she was good, and The Source attacked them. The Source tried to tempt her into choosing evil, but she chose to be with her sisters when he nearly killed Phoebe. The Source then boasted of killing Cole and tried to kill a police inspector who was spying on the sisters, but the inspector was saved when Leo healed him. The sisters and Leo then found Cole and were able to use the combined powers of Leo and Paige to heal him. Paige then reconciled with her sisters, but Shane, having jumbled memories of his possession, broke up with her. Phoebe and Piper then took her back to their home and used a spell to summon Patty's spirit to reunite the long separated mother and daughter. ''Charmed Again, Part 2. Early Training Paige, more than any of the four Halliwell sisters (except perhaps Piper), had difficulty accepting that she was not only a witch, but one of the most powerful witches in history. She also found it hard to get used to having sisters after 24 years as an only child. Indeed, at one point she seriously considered moving to Australia with one of her friends because she found being a witch too overwhelming. However, much like Prue, once she embraced her destiny, she did so with all of her energy. Paige was working as a social work secretary at the time of learning of her true Charmed heritage. At first, Piper was somewhat reluctant to accept her as a sister, much to Phoebe's frustration. Unaware of the rules about personal gain, Paige thought she could use magic to make her workplace better. She borrowed the Book of Shadows, but found it difficult to control. She cured a co-worker of his acne and performed other minor spells. When she cursed a lecherous co-worker with unwanted attention from women, the spell backfired and made her breasts grow to enormous size, giving her the same unwanted attention. Phoebe was able to reverse the effects in time for the two of them to save Piper, who had been turned into a Fury. Paige realized that Piper was somehow angry at Prue, and had Leo orb them to Prue's crypt, allowing Piper to let out her anger and turn human again. With this, Piper finally began to accept Paige as her sister.Hell Hath No Fury. Paige started her witch training soon afterward, as Phoebe and Piper wanted to make sure she was up to speed, both for their sake and hers. However, at first she seemed to be more interested in fighting demons than learning her craft. She learned potion basics under Piper, but when mixing a potion she accidentally swapped her soul with Phoebe's. Enter the Demon. Although they tried to keep it a secret while they swapped souls back again, they had to confront the evil Zen student Yenlo trying to kill his former master. They traveled to limbo and defeated Yenlo after swapping souls back. Having learned that magic and supernatural evil were real, Paige decided to investigate an old house that had always creeped her out. A Knight to Remember. In doing so she learned it was really the home of the demon Gammill and that her friend Finn was Gammill's golem creation. She tried to protect Finn, but Gammill killed his creation for helping Paige. The demon was a collector of ceramic figurines made of shrunken women. He shrunk Phoebe and later got Piper and Paige too, but the three sisters were able to defeat and vanquish him, which returned them to their original size. Graduation and Fresh Start Where Paige stayed after her parents' death is unknown, though it is possible she stayed with extended family. After graduating from Berkeley with a degree in Sociology, Paige planned on becoming a social worker. After renting an apartment, she was began work at South Bay Social Services as Bob Cowan's assistant. While there, she befriended colleagues Lila and Billy, and helped with many cases of abuse and other social work. Memorial and New Identity Paige and the sisters' memorial took place in the manor, and they all attended in glamoured disguises. However, Paige was upset that her memorial had been visited by more leprechauns than actual people, aside from Glen, and apparently not even her adoptive family arrived, such as her uncle Dave and aunt Julie. To compensate, she sneaked out of the house and disguised herself as Janice Dickinson, before re-entering and crying at her own memorial, saying that she was the best friend she had ever had. For this, Piper and Phoebe told her off. After the event ended, Victor mentioned that, since the sisters were constantly changing faces, Wyatt and Chris were getting confused, which prompted Phoebe to note the New Identity Spell in the Book of Shadows, which gave them new identities but allowed family members to see their true-selves. Phoebe said to think of an appearance they would like to project to the rest of the world, and Paige thought up a brunette appearance. She christened her new-self Josephine "Jo" Bennet, while Piper was Jenny, Phoebe was Julie and Leo was Louis. A potion was also made which gave them driving licenses, social security numbers, resumes, and the like, and the sisters claimed to be Victor's nieces from Los Angeles, who arrived in San Francisco after their real-selves died. Daughters and New Battle Powers and Abilities. Whitelighter Powers * Her whitelighter side gives her the common powers of a whitelighters. * These are Orbing, Healing, Sensing, Glamouring, Light Manipulation, Hovering, Thermokenesis, Omnilingualism, Telepathy (with her charges) and Empathy (with her charges) * Orbing - This allows her summon and manipulate swirling white and blue lights, known as orbs, for a variety of effects. She can teleport herself and others in a swirl of white orbs; She can use her orbing powers to create bright lights just by saying "Lights."(similar to a torch or flashlight). Witch Powers Her Witch heritage also gives her the abilities shared by all witches. These include Spell casting (This allows her dominate many abilities and posibilities), Spell creating, Potion Making and Scrying. Due to her Charmed One status her power is enchanced beyond that of an average Witch. Telekinetic Orbing Paige has the ability of Telekinetic Orbing due to her Witch/Whitelighter hybrid status. When Prue was murdered by the demon assassin Shax, Paige inherited her power of telekinesis, but her Whitelighter heritage made the power work differently. This power is similar to general telekinesis, however when she moves an object she must say its name or desired location and the object shall travel to where she desires it to go in a swirl of orbs. At first Paige's powers were used to teleport objects to herself and redirect demonic attacks, eventually she reached a point where she was able to telekinetically orb people and demons. She can also use her powers to orb something and seemingly make it disappear by shouting "Orb away!". She has shown signs of improvement, like orbing things without her hands. And has also been shown to orb things without calling for them. She doesn't have to be terribly accurate when calling for an object. Her telekinetic orbing later developed into Remote Orbing. Much later in the Comics series, it is shown she can create a Force Field Out Of Orbs. Combat Skills Paige was also shown to possess high combat skills throughout the season, despite whitelighters being 'pacifists'. This may be because she is part whitelighter that she was able to skillfully combat demons. She was able to take down Phoebe when she was a vampire and was also able to take down Billie, who is highly skilled in all forms of martial arts. She also joined the Police force for a brief stint, after taking down a Police officer. Health, Allergies and Medical Paige initially suffered from claustrophobia, the fear of small spaces, and this worked against her by Barbas in 2002. However, she managed to overcome this fear while witnessing a hallucination of the walls in Wyatt's nursery''Sympathy For the Demon''.. Professional Life Paige Matthews passion was to work in social services. Paige, feeling the need to focus on her witch duties, leaves the job takes on a string of temporary jobs. The temporary jobs however, does help her to save innocents. After the death of Gideon, she asks the elders to keep Magic School open. They agree only and she becomes the director, working to teach and ensure the safety of students. Eventually, Leo Wyatt takes over, and once again, Paige decides to become a "full-time witch". Notes and References Category:Charmed Ones Category:Matthews family Category:Halliwell family Category:Individuals with the power to orb Category:Mitchell family Category:Individuals with the power of telekinetic-orbing Category:Individuals with the power of healing Category:Individuals with the power of glamouring Category:Individuals with the power to manipulate light Category:Spell creators Category:Potion makers Category:Individuals with the power to scry Category:Half-whitelighters Category:Witches Category:Leonardo Wyatt's charges Category:Alternate Christopher Halliwell's charges Category:Wilder family Category:South Bay Social Services employees